Wrappin’ It Up

Music of Diverse Cultures

By:  Anna J. Micklatcher-Peterson

I am very grateful to have been a part of such a wonderful class and group of students.  I enjoyed this class tremendously!

We had a diverse group of students in the class that made what we were learning so much better, as they shared more knowledge with the class of their own culture.  I was surprised to see how some of the instruments we learned about really did not change a whole lot even though there were many miles between the countries.  The drums were even created in a very similar fashion whether it be in Africa or Australia. 

Since this class touched on interfaith studies as well, I was further reinforced of how other people can view religion in our own country and how religion of all cultures around the globe can have many things that are similar.  This class goes hand in hand with the world religion class at Converse.  In my opinion, Music and Religion are one. 

I really enjoyed the presentation Dr. Weeks gave on all the different countries that he visited.  The pictures and art he shared with the class was awesome.  It was a great experience to get to see up close and hold the different pieces he brought back from these countries.  I can still hear-the-sound of the metal bowl that rang for so long after you ran the pestle around the rim.  I also loved the architecture of the places of worship where Dr. Weeks visited.  It was amazing to see that these buildings were created so long ago without the tools that we have today.  The architecture has inspired me to continue learning about these beautiful buildings all over the world after this class ends.

The only thing that may have made this class easier for me would have been the option of purchasing a book/music that was not online.  Current internet issues where I live limit my abilities with technology.  With that said, I have learned so much more in this class regarding technology.  Blogging is great!!!            

East and Southeast Asia

Music of Diverse Cultures

By:  Anna J. Micklatcher-Peterson

Joseph Prince Ministries

Southeast Asia is the location of my favorite television preacher, Joseph Prince.  He is a very intelligent minister who was called by God to preach the gospel of grace around the world.  His vast knowledge of Judaism and Christianity help him to correctly break down the words of the bible.  Joseph Prince shares this knowledge with his congregation and a multitude of people who receive his “Grace” message all over the world through his books, teaching resources, television ministry and internet.

Joseph Prince (born on May 15, 1963) is an evangelist and the senior pastor of New Creation Church in Singapore.  He has a wife named Wendy and two children.  New Creation Church is a non-denominational Christian church that holds its services at The Star Performing Arts Center.  It has an average Sunday attendance of 33,000 and was founded in 1984.  His television program is called “Destined to Reign” and broadcasts to more than 150 countries including the United States of America.  Joseph Prince does not take a salary from New Creation Church.  He encourages everyone who watches his broadcast to give their tithes and offerings to their local church. 

 Joseph Prince has written numerous books.  Some of which share a very “simple” message about the power of the Holy Communion.  He believes those who have accepted Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior should take the Holy Communion every day so they can enjoy the divine health and wholeness that our Lord and Savior paid for on the cross.  Many people share their testimonies of “healing” through the Holy Communion on his daily broadcast. 

       https://www.josephprince.org/broadcast/on-demand

Mosques of Southeast Asia

There are many beautiful mosques located in Southeast Asia. Istiqlal Mosque in Jakarta, Indonesia is the largest that was completed in 1978.  It can hold 200,000 people.  It is also the fourth largest in the world.  This mosque was built to commemorate Indonesian independence.  Its name “Istiqlal” means “independence.”  President Barrack Obama was one of the many world leaders that have visited this mosque during their diplomatic visit.  

One of my favorites is the Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkaiah, located in Cotabato City, Philippines.  Even though it is the largest in the Philippines, it is by far much smaller with the capacity of holding only 60,000 people.  Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah of Brunei Darussalam funded the construction at 48 million dollars that is said to help the growing Muslim population in the Southern Philippines.  It was completed in 2011.  I love the balance and symmetry of the design with the bright golden yellow domes.

The Baiturrahman Grand in Aceh, Indonesia is one of the oldest mosques in Aceh that survived the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.  It represents a symbol of religion, culture, spirit, strength, struggle and nationalism of the people of Aceh, Indonesia.  Smaller in size, it has a capacity of 30,000 people.  The construction on it was completed in 1881.  In my opinion, it is the most gorgeous with the seven navy colored domes and the beautiful architecture of the mosque.

East Asia

Chinese culture celebrates the Spring Festival at the beginning of the Lunar New Year.  The dates fall between mid-January and mid-February.  This is a time when the Chinese honor their ancestors.  The celebration lasts for fifteen days and they do something every day to welcome the new year.  One of the things they do during this time is eat rice congee and mustard greens to cleanse the body.  Their celebration during this time includes fireworks and parades that have dancers that are dressed like
dragons.

 

“Music and Family”

Music of Diverse Cultures

By:  Anna J. Micklatcher-Peterson

As a Converse 11 student, I have a limited choice of a family member to interview that is older than myself.  My grandmother who played the piano and organ on my father’s side of the family along with my great grand father who played the fiddle on my mother’s side, have long since passed away.  That leaves me to choose someone special to Lanna and I that we consider family and who is also a part of our church family.

Ronnie Elmore begins our interview by saying that he loves to play the guitar, banjo and mandolin.  He is almost 70 years old and has played most of his life.  Ronnie enjoys playing at church, home, work or with other guitarist’s just for the fun of it.  He was first inspired to play by watching older artists like Roy Clark, Author Smith and Chet Atkins on “Hee Haw.”  Other lifetime favorite country music artists he likes are Hank Williams, Sr. and Johnny Cash.

Ronnie was fifteen when he began guitar lessons on Wednesday’s at the Gaffney Guitar School.  At that time, Gene Wyatt was his instructor, and only charged him $5 for a for thirty-minute lesson.  Throughout the years, Ronnie has picked with many guitar groups including Bobby Wright, Lanna Peterson and his grandson “James” who all have enhanced his musical skills.  The only other instrument he voices that he would like to learn how to play would be the piano.  Even though he can pick out songs by ear, he says the “piano for me is extremely hard.”

The type of music Ronnie has always loved to play is gospel, country or bluegrass.  In all these years, these have continued to be his preferred choice.  He has never liked rock n roll music, and only tolerated it as a kid if his friends had it on.  They would listen to music on the radio, tv, or vinyl records.  He also remembers the 8 track tapes that came later.  Ronnie thinks that our more advanced technology is far greater with today’s instruments, pickups, speakers and Bluetooth.  His view is that “the music sounds much clearer.” Age has not slowed him down a bit with the ability to learn this technology.  He loves to look up anything pertaining to music on U Tube.

Serving in the military for thirty-six years did not hinder his love of music even though there were times he was not able to play. Vietnam was one of those times.  He says there was no music there.  Ronnie’s service to our country in Afghanistan was different though.  They had a group of guys including himself that would get together and “pick.”  He played the guitar and his best friend, Alan Painter, played the banjo.  It made this time in their lives a little better. 

    

As a carpenter by profession, Ronnie’s job at Hollywood’s Productions has also broadened his musical experiences. He has access to famous people like “Brooks and Dunn” and works musical events where his job takes him places like the “Myrtle Beach Country Music Festival.”  Being a post war veteran though makes the “loud” concerts not enjoyable to him.  He prefers building the stage and props instead.  When I asked him what Brooks and Dunn were like, his answer was that “they were quiet and laid back” and “they were good guitar, banjo, mandolin, and steel guitar player’s.”

Even though Ronnie is saddened that many of the people he has enjoyed “picking” with over the years have already passed away, he continues to play beautiful music for all who want to hear.      

Music of Diverse Cultures

Cool Stuff #3 Arab World & India

By: Anna J. Micklatcher-Peterson

Arab World Worship

The Arab World is where Judaism, Christianity, and Islam all began. These three religions are monotheistic, which means they believe in only one God.  All three believe in the Abrahamic tradition where God (known as “Yahweh” in Hebrew/Judaism or Christianity and “Allah” in Arabic/Islam) revealed himself to the prophet Abraham.  Yahweh is only one of the many names we call God in the Christian bible.  Jewish believers will not say God’s name “Yahweh” because they believe it is too sacred to be spoken.  For the Christian believer, “Jehovah” is God’s personal name. Alpha, Omega, Beginning, End, Creator, Father, I Am That I Am, Redeemer, Rock, Shepherd, Savior and Lord are some of the many other names for God in the Christian bible.

"I Call Him Lord"

The Collingsworth Family

Israel is the biblical Holy Land of the Jews, Christians and Muslims.  Jerusalem is the location of the most sacred sights of all three of these religions.  The Western Wall or better known as the “Wailing Wall” is where Jews go to pray and weep at the site because of the destruction of the Temple Mount by the Romans in 70 CE.  The Western Wall is the spot closest to the Holy of Holies, which is the central focus of the temple.

Although there are many sites in Israel, especially Jerusalem, that are important to Christians, The Church of the Holy Sepulchre is one of the most important sites to Christianity.  It is supposed to be the location of Calvary or Golgotha, where Jesus was crucified and the empty tomb of Jesus, where he was buried and resurrected.  The tomb is enclosed by a 19^th century shrine called the Aedicula.

The Dome of the Rock is sacred to both Muslims and Jews.  The Muslims believe the Prophet Muhammad, founder of Islam, ascended into heaven from this site.  It is sacred to the Jews because they believe it is the holiest site on the earth.  They believe this is where Abraham prepared to sacrifice his son Isaac.

     

India “Hindu” Religion

During my education here at Converse College, my daughter and I visited a Hindu temple in Spartanburg along with other Converse students.  Their customs were different from what I am used to.  As soon as we entered, we took our shoes off.  We got there early, so it gave us an opportunity to see the people as they came to worship.

There were two large carpets and a runner carpet in the middle.  The men sat on the left and the women sat on the right carpet.  Some of the elderly ladies sat in chairs to the right.  Those who wanted to pray or leave gifts of fruit, flowers, or money walked up the middle carpet to the altar where all the gods (statues) were.  Rose petals were put around the gods and goddesses.  The fruit was laid on the altar and the money put into an offering box that had a slot on the top.

As the service began, the men spoke and sang in a language I was not familiar with, so I did not understand what they were saying.  They were very courteous though to stop and explain it to all of us what was going on.  The elephant is their main god.  Rama came eight times to India.  They are waiting on the ninth.  It has been thousands of years since he came.  I felt like this part of their custom is similar to Christianity because we are waiting on “Jesus” to come back from thousands of years, also. 

They told us the story of the god child before the service moved outside.  The king wanted to kill his son, so he had his sister who had favor with the fire gods take him into the fire to burn.  Since the god was in the child and all the people were praying for him, the sister of the king who was the child’s aunt burned and the child walked out.

The service moved outside where a huge bonfire was built in memory of this story.  We walked around the bonfire casting all our bad thoughts into the fire and pouring water on it.  This reminded me of Christianity where we repent of our sins and the blood of Christ washes our sins away.  The fire to me was symbolic to hell and the water was symbolic to the blood of Christ or being baptized.  I was also was reminded of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the Book of Daniel (of the Christian bible) where the three Hebrew men are thrown into a fiery furnace and walk out unharmed because they are preserved by a fourth man whom the king sees walking in the flames, “the fourth… like a son of God”.

We came back inside where many put color on their faces.  The children threw the color into the air.  This represented a celebration of spring.

We had a meal together that was a flat bread, green peppers, a spicy sauce to dip the bread in, a yellow sugary sweet and cinnamon type of tea.  While we ate, I had the opportunity to talk to a man about his custom.  He lived in India and his wife was from America.  They had an arranged marriage by their parents before they ever met.  He moved to America when they were married.  They have since divorced.  I asked how his culture felt about divorce.  He said they look at it very badly.  You are an outcast when you divorce.  You have to force people to talk to you.

 

Before we finished our meal, some of the fruit that had been offered to the gods and goddesses was given to us to eat.  The coconut that was burned in the fire had been cut up into small pieces and offered to us to eat.  I felt like this part of their custom was like my custom of taking Communion in the Christian faith.

Islam

There was something I wanted to add to what we learned about Muslim belief pertaining to their pilgrimage to Mecca.  Muslims try to go on this journey at least once in their life, depending on their circumstances.  As we learned in class, this is called a “Hajj.”  What I found to be amazing about their culture and belief is that they can only take this journey if they are “debt free.”    

Music of Diverse Cultures

Cool Stuff # 2

African American (Blues) & South/Latin America

“Fats” Domino

Antoine “Fats” Domino Jr. (February 26, 1928 - October 24, 2017) was one of my favorite rhythm-and-blues artists from New Orleans.  He could sing!!!  He was an African American pianist and singer-songwriter who sold more than 65 million records.  Over 25 of them were gold singles during his career that spanned five decades.  He had eleven Top 10 hits between 1955 and 1960.  Right up there with Elvis, “Fats” was one of the pioneers of rock and roll music.  Some of my favorite songs are “Blueberry Hill,” “I’m Walkin’,” “Ain’t It A Shame,” “Blue Monday,” and “Whole Lotta Loving.”

“Fats Domino was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1986 and during the following year, he won a Lifetime Achievement Grammy.  He was 89 when he died of natural causes at his daughter’s home, who was one of his eight children.  His net worth at his death was approximately $8.0 million! 

“Father of Soul”

Ray Charles Robinson (September 23, 1930 – June 10, 2004) was another African American singer, song-writer and composer. He was born in Albany, Georgia.  My favorite song of his, during his 58-year career, was “Hit the Road Jack.”  He was an amazing artist that did not let the loss of his eyesight hold him back.  Ray Charles started losing his vision when he was only 6 years old due to glaucoma. 

“Georgia On My Mind” was a 1960 hit that was a No. 1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100.  “Modern Sounds In Country And Western Music” was his first album to hit the top Billboard 200 in 1962.  It was not common for an African American artist to perform country and western music. 

Like “Fats” Domino, Ray Charles was honored with the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.  He was a 17-time Grammy Award winner and 10 of his recordings have been inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.  Rolling Stone ranked Ray Charles in 2002, #10 on their list of “100 Greatest Artists of All Time.”  In 2008, he ranked #2 on their list of the “100 Greatest Singers of All Time.”

On June 14, 1962, Ray Charles was fined $757 in Atlanta after he wouldn’t perform at a dance at Bell Auditorium in Augusta, Georgia.  After letting the public know, he left town because he had learned the larger auditorium floor would be “restricted to whites while the blacks had to sit in the Music Hall balcony.”

Ray Charles was listed among hundreds of artists whose original master recordings were destroyed in the 2008 fire of Universal Studios Hollywood.  It was an American film studio and theme park in Los Angeles County, California.

Ray Charles Robinson died of liver failure in his home at the age of 73.  Numerous musical figures attended his funeral that took place at the First AME Church in Los Angeles.

“Venezuelan friends”

I have some very sweet friends from Venezuela that have opened my eyes to cultures other than mine.  They have great food, music and dance moves.  The youngest, Luna, has a beautiful voice and loves to fish.  Brithany, the eldest, is very intelligent and strives to go to college and major in international business.  Mily, their mom, is a very beautiful lady with a heart of gold.  She has her own business and also takes care of her mother and nana.   

Sadly, I have not seen them recently.  As you have probably seen in the news, their government does not take care of their citizens as they should.  Food, medicine, clothes, gas for their cars, etc. is unaffordable.  The people of their country lead a mass exodus that reminded me of the one I have read about in the bible where Moses lead God’s people out of Egypt to the “promised land.”  America is like the promised land to other countries in the world today.  My friends have a hard time seeing their fellow countrymen suffer while they themselves try to survive.  One day, when it is safe, Lanna and I are going to visit them in Venezuela.   

   

Diverse Cultures and their Musics

Music and Gender by:  Anna J. Micklatcher-Peterson

When I was in school, I think there was a greater difference in the types of instruments boys vs. girls played.  Most girls played instruments like the flute, piccolo, or piano.  Boy’s instrument of choice would normally be the tuba, trumpet or percussion.  Sometimes you would see someone stepping out of the norm like Mr. Dr. Vaneman, who plays the flute, Dr. Weeks who plays the piano or a girl I went to school with who played the trumpet.  Students who chose to play instruments that were unusual for their gender, usually turned out to be the better musicians.

Fast forward to Lanna’s generation, and it did not seem to matter what instrument the students chose to play.  Lanna and her friend Gabe both played the clarinet, piano, guitar, along with other instruments.  Haley, who was also in Lawson Band with Lanna, could play five instruments.  It included the tuba, which was a huge instrument for a girl. 

I personally don’t think it matters what instrument is chosen by a girl or a boy as-long-as they are receiving great joy in what they are doing. 

   

Psalm 100

“Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all ye lands.”

Cool Stuff 1:  Native America and Africa

By: Anna J. Micklatcher-Peterson

“The Sultan of loyalty, love, and wisdom”

I was very surprised in class today, to learn of the passing of Omani Sultan Qaboos, whom we had just discussed in class Friday.  

He was a great humanitarian leader who cared about the well-being of his country, whereas other foreign leaders in that area only seek to prosper themselves at the expense and labor of their citizens. Sultan Qaboos also maintained positive relations with other countries by hosting secret meetings in order to facilitate negotiations between Iran and the U.S.  Qaboos cared about peace enough that he paid half a million in 2011 to each for the securing of the release of American prisoners from Iran.  He was known as “the Sultan of loyalty, love, and wisdom”. 

“Sultan Qaboos Mosque in Sohar, Muscat, Oman”

Oman is a country that has no trains or trees and has been on the records since the sixth century BC. It was referred to as “the Hidden Port.”  Previously, its capital, Muscat, was in Africa until Said bin Sultan decided to move the capital to his much-loved tropical outpost in Stone Town.

“Mama Africa”

Miriam Makeba was a famous South African singer with Paul Simons and Harry Belafonte, who helped to introduce African music to the West.

  “Mama Africa” became the first African woman to win a Grammy and was very beautiful in the modern “Afro look” that she helped to shape while on stage performing.  “Pata Pata” was her most popular song in South Africa and became the No. 12 spot on the Billboard Hot 100 in the U.S. 

  She made an unusual clicking sound with the lyrics of the music, which she called her language.  South Africa speaks Xhosa and Zulu.  Both use the Roman alphabet, but Xhosa uses three types of clicks that linguists call dental, lateral, and alveolar.  They are written with the letters C, X, and Q.  The “C” click makes a tsk! tsk! tsk! sound by placing the tip of your tongue on the roof of your mouth, near the incisors.  Urging a horse is the sound it makes for the “X” click as you place the side of the tongue against the teeth and inhaling.  The “Q” click makes a “clop” sound by putting the tongue against the roof of the mouth and snapping it downward.  It sounds like a horse walking on cobblestones.  Each type of click paired with one of the six vowel sounds makes a total of 18 click sounds in the Xhosa language compared to 48 clicks in the language spoken in Namibia and Botswana.

     She was also a very vocal civil rights activist against the racial segregation of apartheid.  Because of her political stance against South Africa’s government, she was exiled from her country and not allowed to attend her mother’s funeral in 1960.  Her country had terminated her passport during the time she was touring and living in England and the United States.  She died of a heart attack at the age of 76 during a 2008 concert in Castel Volturno, Italy.

 

Cherokee Indians

     The Cherokee were a very large tribe that originated in the southeast part of the United States.  They migrated from the Great Lakes region to Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia.  Cherokee means “those who live in the mountains”.  The Cherokee Nation has more than 300,000 tribal members.  It is the largest of the 567 federally recognized tribes in the U.S.  My great, great grandmother was a Cherokee.  Their language was Iroquoian and they occupied the southern Appalachian Mountains beginning approximately 8000 B.C.  The Trail of Tears forced them to relocate to our present-day Oklahoma between 1836 and 1839.  Today’s Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians are located along the Oconaluftee River in western North Carolina.  Cherokee, N.C. is a tourist attraction where you can experience the traditional music, dance and clothing of the Cherokee Indian.    

Cherokee Indian Music

Amazing Grace in Cherokee language

Music and Religion Philosophy
Our own experiences by Anna J. Micklatcher-Peterson

       Christian music has been a part of my life whether it was picking out hymns on an old piano, singing them in church on Sunday, listening to Lanna and friends play them at home on the piano, guitar, mandolin, banjo, and dobro guitar, or even here right now in McDonalds as I do my school work.  I love all types of music, but old-time hymns are my favorite such as 

"Little Is Much When God Is In It."  

Some of the churches where I have worshiped prefer the traditional hymns whereas others incorporate contemporary Christian music into their service like 

                    "Here I Am to Worship."  

        I have had many years to become exposed to different types of Christian music that reflect God’s Holy Word.  Weddings and funerals are also times we seek peace through comforting words sung in religious settings.  The following is a video of a commonly used song during funerals that was written and composed by famous country artist, Vince Gill. 

   “Go Rest High on That Mountain” performed by: 
Clemson College students at Stumphouse Tunnel in Mtn. Rest, S.C.

      

       Music and song are a way of praising the Lord.  When there is a fifth Sunday in the month, my home church has what we call a fifth Sunday Singing.  There is no sermon preached that Sunday.  We worship the Lord through song and music.  Other Sunday’s the music is very programmatic.  The music selection goes along with the scripture readings and reinforces the meaning of the text/sermon.  An example of this would be a sermon that was telling about the birth of Jesus Christ and the songs for the service would be “That Boy Child of Mary,” “Infant Holy, Infant Lowly,” “Joy to the World,” “Il est ne, le divin Enfant (He is born, the Holy Child).”

        While our services at Sardis Methodist are very structured and do not deviate much from the bulletin, Pleasant Hill Baptist’s service is more lead by the holy spirit.  The following image is an example of the order of worship for a fifth Sunday singing at Sardis United Methodist Church.       

      

       Music has a way of impacting people in a more spiritual way than just through sermons and can lead individuals to Christ.  It unifies the Church as a whole.

Music of Diverse Cultures

Autobiography by Anna J. Micklatcher-Peterson

     As a child, I sang in the choir at my church.  My favorite hymns were the traditional favorites like Amazing Grace and Because He Lives.  I learned how to play those old-time hymns by ear after someone gave me an antique piano.  When I began the seventh grade, I wanted to learn how to read music and play the flute but had to get out of the class because I could not afford the instrument.  During my high school years, I enjoyed listening to 70’s and 80’s music.  Some favorites during that time were the Electric Slide and the YMCA.  I love all kinds of music, especially bluegrass.  Shortly after I got out of high school, I went to Virginia with my family and was able to experience some backwoods music and dance with real mountain folk.  I will never forget the old man named Phil who clogged with me to the bluegrass band that played that night.  My family still talks about the fun time we had that night with some really great people.

     Most of my musical experiences have been while homeschooling my daughter Lanna.  We have had many opportunities to attend some wonderful musical performances together that included theater and dance.  Many of those performances we saw throughout the years were performed by her friends or our family members.  That made it even more special to both of us.  Some of the examples were Beauty and the Beast, that was performed at Limestone College by many of Lanna’s friends and family.  This was extremely close to a broadway scale production because of the elaborate costumes worn by the actors.  We were fortunate enough to see Aladdin on broadway in New York City when Lanna performed at Carnegie Hall. 

Once, on a field trip, we went to Cherokee, N.C. and saw the Native American outdoor performance “Unto These Hills.”  It was a very moving drama that depicted the transition of life for the Indians from their freedom leading up to the trail of tears that nearly wiped out their culture as well as their entire population.  While exploring the town the next day, we learned how to do several Native American dances, including a rain dance. 

A few years ago, I was introduced to a family from Venezuela and we have become great friends.  They opened my eyes and ears to the Latin American culture and made me aware of my love for Hispanic music.  One of our fondest memories together is making a special bread while listening to their favorite traditional Venezuelan Christmas music.  We hope to visit them soon to see their beautiful country and experience the culture there first hand.

I continue to love all types of music, including the beautiful sounds of nature like the birds singing or water flowing.  Music reaches the hearts and souls of the individuals listening to it and gives us a sense of peace.